Ievgenia Pastushenko - Decoding the COMPASS that guides cancer
Ievgenia Pastushenko of the Histology Laboratory (Faculty of Medicine) has been awarded an ERC for the COMPASS project. Cancer is the most common form of cancer, often displaying abnormalities in the mechanisms that control gene activation (epigenetic mechanisms). Three genes in particular - KMT2D, KMT2C and KDM6A - are frequently altered in many types of cancer. These genes work together in the same molecular system, which regulates gene expression in cell-type-specific ways. When these genes malfunction, normal cell development is disrupted and tumors are promoted.However, exactly how these mutations influence cell behavior during tumor formation and progression remains poorly understood. This research project will use multidisciplinary approaches combining cutting-edge techniques (single cell analysis, targeted genetic modification, drug treatments) to study precisely the impact of these mutations on two types of cancer: skin cancer and bladder cancer. The project will also identify new therapeutic targets by searching for specific weaknesses in cancer cells carrying these mutations.
Chloé Martens - Modulating drug transporter dynamics to improve therapeutic efficacy
The efficacy of a drug depends largely on its ability to reach the target organ in the human body. This distribution is controlled by a complex network of "transporters" - proteins that move drugs from one body compartment to another, like a molecular highway system.The ERC-awarded DynamITE project, led by Chloé Martens (Biochemistry and Structural Biology (BSB), Faculty of Science), aims to develop tools for manipulating this transport network at will. All transporters work on the same principle: they constantly change shape to move substances across cell membranes. The project will use an innovative technique called HDX-MS mass spectrometry to observe these shape changes in real time.
This approach will enable us to identify and design modulators - molecules capable of either blocking transport (by preventing shape changes), or accelerating it (by facilitating these changes). The project will focus on transporters crucial to antibiotic resistance, drug toxicity and the passage of drugs to the brain. The ultimate aim is to create a toolbox applicable to any transporter whose activity we wish to control.
Juliette Schwak - In search of an economic past - Political-economic nostalgia in East Asian societies
East Asian societies have undergone rapid economic modernization, but their citizens are increasingly rejecting the negative aspects of this evolution: excessive competition and growing inequalities. At the same time, nostalgia has become a major phenomenon in the consumption and culture of these regions.Through the PENEA project, Juliette Schwak (Political Economy) wants to study whether this nostalgia for the pre-industrial past constitutes a form of dissatisfaction with current economic development, and whether it leads citizens to become politically committed to change. When people long for a time before intensive economic development, this can become a driving force for political action.
The project has three objectives: to document expressions of nostalgia among East Asian citizens, to conceptualize these forms of nostalgia, and to analyze whether they actually motivate political mobilization. The research will be carried out in six countries representing different levels of development (Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, Philippines, Cambodia), combining media analysis, surveys, interviews and observations. This is the first systematic and comparative study of economic political nostalgia in East Asia and its effects on civic engagement.
Irene Cogliati Dezza - Unpacking the motivations for seeking information wisely
Irene Cogliati Dezza (Faculty of Psychology, Educational Sciences and Logopedics) will receive an ERC grant for her project WiseSeek! Every day, around 60% of the world’s population engages in online information consumption, often encountering negative content. This exposure to negative information has been linked to adverse effects on individual well-being and mental health. For example, persistent exposure to negative online content, often referred to as "doomscrolling", increases the risk of psychopathological conditions. This is a problem both for individuals struggling with deteriorating mental health, and for governments faced with such a decline.The WiseSeek project aims to address this challenge by developing an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the mechanisms underlying decisions to consume information with such negative consequences. The project tests the hypothesis that this behavior results from a dysfunction in the way the brain assesses the "value" of information. Research will focus on the role of dopamine, a key neurotransmitter in these decision-making mechanisms, using innovative techniques to measure its fluctuations in conscious humans.
The project will also develop interventions to modify information consumption with such negative consequences, and the laboratory results will be transposed into the real world by developing a new web-based methodology. Situated at the frontiers of cognitive neuroscience, psychology and computer science, this project will provide the first insights into the mechanisms underlying decisions to consume information with negative consequences for individual well-being and mental health, with important implications for behavioral science, clinical psychology, public policy and society as a whole.
Dukas Jurenas - Function, role and control of the giant bacterial roller
R-bodies are probably the largest organized protein structures found inside bacteria. These scroll-like structures occupy a significant proportion of cell space and can extend up to 20 micrometers in acidic media, like a telescope. Initially discovered in bacteria living in symbiosis, these elements were supposed to eliminate host organisms. However, their role and mechanism of action remain to be elucidated.The Fun-ContRoll project led by Dukas Jurenas (Laboratory of Bacterial Genetics and Physiology, Faculty of Science) aims to analyze the assembly and unwinding processes of these structures. Ongoing research will aim to elucidate their specific mechanism of action, asking whether their action is manifested simply by their physical extension or by the release of toxic proteins. In order to understand their biological role, the project will analyze their costs and benefits for the bacterium at single-cell level and for the population as a whole, as well as their potential role in establishing symbioses.
The aim of this study is to determine whether these structures have pathogenic potential or, conversely, whether they could contribute to the eradication of parasitic species responsible for pathologies. The project will also investigate the mechanisms governing their production, which is strictly controlled by bacteria. Indeed, only a well-defined fraction of the bacterial population is capable of producing these giant structures.
